72 NORTHERLY PARTS OF LOUISIANA. 



colour, was caught, when very young, by the Chayenne In- 

 dians and presented to the Governor through some of their 

 traders. These Indians inhabit the country upon the head 

 waters of one of the principal branches of the Missouri, called 

 la Fourche, and their residence cannot be less than 450, or 500 

 leagues west of the Mississippi. Mr. Delassus made a present 

 not long sinse of one of these cubs, the smallest and darkest 

 coloured, to my friend Mr. Wm. Harrison Governor of the In- 

 diana territory, who informed me that he intended to present 

 it to the President of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. 

 There you will no doubt have an opportunity of seeing it, and 

 will be prepared to form a much more correct opinion, as to 

 its proper place among the different tribes of bears, than can 

 possibly be done from the imperfect account given by hunters. 

 The buck eye (^Esculus flava), the paean tree (juglans pe- 

 can), black walnut (juglans nigra), our common species of 

 hickory, the sugar maple (acer saccharum), the persimmon 

 (diospyros virginiana), and the coffee tree (guilandina dioica), 

 as it is called in Kentucky, are all common in this country, 

 and are to be found as far west as 350 leagues from hence; 

 that is until you arrive at la Riviere qui coule. The beech 

 (fagus ferruginea), the chinquapin (fagus pumila), the chesnut 

 (fagus castanea?) and the poplar with a tulip flower (lirioden- 

 dron tulipifera), are none of them to be found in this part of 

 the country or to the west of this, agreeably to the informa- 

 tion of the best-informed traders and hunters. The poplar 

 with a tulip flower however is found in abundance about one 

 hundred miles to the south of this, and on the west side of 

 the Mississippi. 



JOHN W ATKINS. 



